WE don’t really know what one fighter is capable of. We don’t really know what the other fighter is still capable of. Can one fighter fight effectively at his new weight? Can his opponent still make the weight and fight effectively?
It is a fight of many unknowns. Nobody really knows what we will get on Saturday night when Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn finally trade blows rather than meaningless verbals.
The fight has been labelled a circus. A manufactured event built on what their far more talented fathers achieved and delivered all those years ago. There is plenty of truth in those unflattering labels. Without the surname, we wouldn’t be getting this fight. There is an element of it being a circus-like attraction. It is to a point, manufactured.
But whatever it is, the hard sell has most certainly worked. In numbers terms, it is a much bigger fight the second time around. Over 60,000 fans will flock to the home of Tottenham Hotspur, hoping to see something resembling what we saw in 1990 and 1993.
They might be disappointed on that score. But they could still see a fight that could exceed many expectations. But there is also that feeling that certain limitations could be brutally exposed.
But despite the admittedly mainstream recognition and the extremely large number of eyes that will watch the latest incarnation of the family business, it is a fight that has left me cold. In truth, it goes way beyond that.
My lukewarm reception isn’t just based on what I lived through all those years ago when Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn served up two truly memorable nights. Their first fight in Birmingham in 1990 was one of the most brutal and savage fights ever seen inside a British ring. The rematch was a good fight, but it was nevertheless a pale imitation of their first meeting. That could apply again on Saturday night. The original rivalry was more organic. It carried real meaning at the time. This one doesn’t.
What cuts deep is the manner in which the first attempt at getting the two sons together inside a boxing ring fell by the wayside, which still leaves a bitter taste nearly three years on.
The two failed drug tests and the shameful attempts at keeping the fight on were a dark moment for the sport. Without that one solitary article that broke the story, the fight would have taken place despite all parties knowing there was a fighter suspected of cheating.
The stench and the grime still linger from that cancelled 2022 fight. Some with dollars to make and reputations to protect want you to forget the finer detail. Some of us can’t forget. A never-ending PR process played out with an all too obliging modern media pressing record and playing safe with what they ask. Even in the overlong and often tiresome fight week that we have witnessed this week, the obvious questions haven’t been asked. Why? Sadly, we all know the answer to that question.
For a fight that is largely built on nostalgia, there are those who want the recent past forgotten.
The narrative of cleared is factually correct, but we still don’t know why or even if clomifene was in Conor Benn’s system. Without a full and definitive explanation, many will still view that ‘cleared’ status with much suspicion.
By the way, Benn could be the innocent victim, but without full disclosure, you will always have those who will draw their own conclusions. The Benn inner circle won’t like the constant references to what happened in and around those two failed drug tests. But they have the power to end all the speculation once and for all.
My indifference, disdain even to this weekend’s middleweight fight, has only heightened with the events on Friday. The behind-closed-doors weigh-ins added yet another touch of drama. And a real warning. The red flags are very much in play.
Fights are often won and lost around the negotiating table. This could be one such fight. At 35, Eubank is clearly struggling to make the middleweight limit. The struggles are obvious when Eubank missed weight, albeit narrowly, and added yet another fine he will have to pay in the build-up to the fight.
The much-talked-about rehydration limit could be key in who leaves with their hand raised in victory. Agreeing to a clause that will almost certainly leave your fighter at a distinct disadvantage could be a monumental error of judgment. Why make a sport that is already beyond dangerous, even more dangerous? If Eubank is a depleted fighter on Saturday night, he will lose.
But who will win? Benn is unproven at this level and is much the smaller fighter. Eubank has, by some distance, the better resume. But of late, he looks like a fighter on that irreversible slide. The stoppage defeat to Liam Smith was more than worrying. Eubank got his immediate revenge over Smith, but what version of Liam Smith did he really beat? When was the last time Eubank really convinced?
Chris Eubank Jr. is bigger and better. From what we know, boxing logic should clearly tell us that Conor Benn won’t be restoring family pride. For Benn to win, he would need to be fighting a weight-drained fighter who is so far removed from his fighting peak that everything else becomes irrelevant. For those who want ‘justice’ to be served in another way, that is probably the version of Eubank that Benn will find.
Live on DAZN, April 26 Eubank Jr vs. Benn. Over 30 years of rivalry and hatred all comes down to this! A bloodline born to settle the score, hatred in their blood. Eubank Jr vs. Benn, live on DAZN April 26.
